Mascara brushes of the generic type are known from DE 100 03 858 A1, DE 44 46 521 A1, DE 102 11 780A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,902, U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,503 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,558.
Bristles of varying lengths are provided for several reasons, with a predominant reason residing in that the varying rigidity of the bristles thus obtained can be exploited for excellent properties of transfer of the liquid mascara and of wetting upon application on to the lashes on the one hand and for favorable combing and separating properties on the other. Conventionally, bristles of varying lengths have been put into practice by bristles of varying lengths being supplied in more or less random distribution during the manufacture of the brush prior to the wires being intertwisted, or by the longer bristles being trimmed not only for uniformity, but specifically for the production of a certain outside geometry of bristles of varying lengths in the finished brush, in which way to obtain for example a conical configuration of the entire brush or tip or brushes with impressions on the surface area.
It has also been known to equip intertwisted brushes with bristles of varying rigidity, with the ends of the bristles being ground after manufacture and with the more rigid bristles, during such a grinding job, wearing off and being shortened to a higher degree than the softer bristles.
DE 100 03 858 A1 teaches a mascara brush in which the ends of the longer bristles are located on a surface of a cylinder of greater diameter and the ends of the shorter bristles on a surface of a cylinder of a smaller diameter.
Apart from milling cuts of the outside surface area, the shorter bristles of known brushes either do not possess any defined envelope geometry or they have a cylindrical configuration.